Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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I spoke last night about the housing assistance payment provision in this legislation and I will resume on that topic in a few minutes. I wish to speak briefly about some of the other elements of the legislation. I refer to the tenant purchase scheme by which over the years there has been large-scale selling of local authority housing. One scheme was referred to as the sale of the century because of the large number of houses offered for sale at very good rates which was very popular. However, the result is that housing stock is lost. The key issue is that the money from the sale of housing must be ring-fenced to fund the building of replacement housing. I ask the Minister of State to confirm that this is the intention.

I refer to the types of mortgages offered which have got some people into serious trouble in the past. I refer in particular to the shared ownership loan which is in effect a powder keg of a problem for many people because they will never be able to buy out the equity on the other side. It will be important to make provision in the legislation for the right type of mortgage.

I refer to the tenancy warning provision. There is no doubt that issues arise which need to be dealt with and that sanctions and consequences need to be put in place to deal with people who are presenting with anti-social behaviour problems and causing a nightmare situation for neighbours. Many of those involved are minors. I am not saying that people should be excluded from an estate because one of their children is getting into difficulties but we need to have a multi-agency approach to dealing with this problem and to nip it in the bud. Tenants who are moved out of a local authority estate will end up somewhere else and the problem moves with them. Such problems need to be confronted at a much earlier stage. However, I do not oppose this section of the Bill because the provision is needed as a consequence. There must be a limit on the mandatory deduction for HAP if arrears are owing, for example, to ensure tenants have sufficient money for living expenses. Many people would prefer this approach and they are worried about getting into difficulty. However, hardship can arise as a result of particular events occurring in their lives and a mandatory deduction may prove a difficulty in this situation. I hope additional supports will be provided for those finding themselves in that position of exceptional need. The community welfare officers have some discretion but that discretion has been limited.

As I said in my contribution last night, my big concern is the reliance on the private sector to deliver to the 90,000 people currently on the housing waiting list, with the expectation that this number will increase. It is accepted that there is a shortage of accommodation. The local authority staffing levels are uneven throughout the country. Private sector landlords will wish to engage with the local authority if difficulties arise with tenancies.

Inspections of homes will require additional resources to be provided to local authorities, some of which are already stretched. Local authorities found the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, which is similar to the housing accommodation payment scheme, very heavy in administration. This is one of the reasons the RAS did not attract a sufficient number of landlords to participate.

As I stated last night, most of the local authorities pay higher rents under the rental accommodation scheme than the Department of Social Protection pays for rent assistance. Given that councils are unable to acquire housing under the RAS, which pays landlords more than they will be paid under the housing accommodation payment scheme, will the Minister of State explain where the houses will come from? Will the local authorities perform magic or will additional funding be provided to meet current needs until new homes have been completed under a housing construction programme?

I telephoned a number of landlords in my locality to ask them to explain the reason the rental accommodation scheme is considered to be unattractive. The rent paid under the scheme is below the market rate. They stated, however, that the main issue was the hassle involved in dealing with the local authority. How will it be possible to reduce hassle for landlords if additional staff are not provided to local authorities that are already pushed to the pins of their collars?

As I indicated, the positive aspect of the Bill is that it will address the poverty trap in the rent supplement scheme. Will additional money be provided for the HAP scheme, which will come within the remit of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin? Will the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government allocate additional funding to local authorities to enable them to recruit staff specifically for the scheme? Will the Minister for Finance provide support for the construction of local authority houses? Notwithstanding the best intentions of the Minister of State, the HAP scheme will be an academic exercise as it is doomed to fail if additional supports are not provided. Major fault-lines have emerged even before the scheme commences. There are, for example, shortcomings in the structural and funding mechanisms in place to deliver the scheme.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the publication of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014 and commend the Minister of State and her officials on bringing it before the House. The Bill has three main sections relating to the termination of local authority tenancies, purchases of houses by tenants and housing assistance payments. As a Deputy representing the Galway West-Mayo South constituency, I have been contacted on numerous occasions by constituents expressing concerns about all of these issues and I expect every other Deputy has also been contacted on these matters. The level of correspondence I have received demonstrates how crucial the issue of housing has become. Without a home, every other aspect of life becomes infinitely more difficult.

Unfortunately, we have a national housing problem, the reasons for which are well known and varied. They include the economic collapse; problems with financial institutions; the lack of credit and lending to construction companies; construction companies being overstretched and exposed financially; a substantial decrease in new housing developments; an overstock of houses in the wrong locations; and the lack of resources available for local authorities to build social housing. These factors have all created circumstances that have given rise to a new set of problems that is exacerbating the housing problem. These problems include a shortage of homes and properties in urban locations; substantial increases in rental prices; the inability of people who are renting to save for a deposit to buy a new home; and a substantial reduction in rental properties available to people on the rent supplement scheme as a result of increases in rents. The Bill aims to tackle these challenges head on and I believe it will do so if it is accompanied by other measures.

The sections dealing with local authority tenancies provide for an overhaul of the law to effectively address anti-social behaviour by a small number of tenants; damage caused to local authority properties; social problems caused by abandoned properties; the inability of councils to ensure all social housing stock is in use owing to legal uncertainty; and the failure to pay the modest rental amounts involved resulting in the accrual of arrears. I welcome section 14(2)(a), which relates to the powers of local authorities to deal with abandoned properties. This provision empowers city and county councils to take back properties and put them to good use as family homes without delay. While canvassing for the forthcoming elections, I saw many boarded up properties in certain housing estates. We must ensure that these properties are brought back into use.

A significant number of constituents have contacted me about the need for a tenant purchase scheme. While such a scheme is also necessary in urban areas, it is particularly significant in rural areas where people have been local authority tenants in a locality and wish to remain part of their community. I welcome the provisions relating to a tenant purchase scheme, including the stipulation that the new scheme will apply to existing local authority housing. Many of those seeking the introduction of a new tenant purchase scheme have been residing in their homes for many years. While canvassing, I encountered a case involving a person who lives in a council house that was built some years ago to accommodate the person's parents. However, they chose not to purchase their home under the previous scheme. For this reason, the new scheme is welcome.

The housing assistance payment is a new initiative to address shortcomings in the rent supplement scheme. Rent supplement was only ever intended to be a short-term payment to support a person in the immediate months after losing a job. It is undeniable that the Department of Social Protection, through the rent supplement scheme, accounts for more than 40% of the private rented accommodation scheme. For this reason, when assigning limits on rental supports the Department had to be mindful of the large number of people in employment who are living in private rented accommodation. The limits have acted as a price floor for the rental market.

Unfortunately, the sudden surge in demand for rented accommodation has highlighted problems in the rent supplement scheme. The rental limits have not kept pace with the market, resulting in a surge in demand that has caused serious problems for people in receipt of rent supplement. Increased rents are also posing serious challenges for young working people. In this context, a change in policy has been desperately needed and the housing assistance payment will assist greatly in this regard. The HAP will be a longer-term scheme and, as such, will provide greater certainty to people currently in receipt of rent supplement. It will greatly increase the role of local authorities and empower families to source their own accommodation, safe in the knowledge that the local authority will partner with them in paying the rental costs.

Crucially, a person will no longer lose support towards rental costs on entering employment. Heretofore, one of the greatest concerns people had when taking up a new job was the immediate loss of the rent supplement payment. It is very difficult to start a new job if one faces uncertainty as to whether one will be able to pay for one's home. In short, the housing accommodation payment will tackle the so-called welfare trap and provide support to a person when he or she most needs it. Landlords, particularly in urban areas, know they will be able to secure a higher rent on the private market than that available from a local authority. In Galway city, for example, this means they can obtain a rent of €800 or €850 from private sources if the rent threshold applied by the local authority is €700.

The social housing investment programme announced in the new stimulus package is welcome and significant. The €50 million funding will provide €20 million for 800 additional homes, €10 million for capital projects dedicated to tackling homelessness and €20 million for local authorities to focus on priority projects. These are all welcome initiatives. The State has never provided sufficient funding for social housing and more will be required. We must also be conscious of the power in the Bill allowing local authorities to end tenancy contracts, as this may force some people into homelessness. This concern should be addressed.

The new mortgage deposit insurance scheme on which the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, is working will also have a positive impact. I am aware of the concerns that have been raised about the scheme, particularly the belief that it will create a new housing bubble. This is not the intention and the Minister has explained that the scheme will be for first-time buyers of newly built homes.

The scheme will enable a large number of people who are currently trapped in the situation of paying high rents and unable to save for a deposit to buy their own homes. I am confident the Minister is very much aware of the risks involved and that he, and his officials, will include safeguards and will closely monitor the operation of the scheme. There is a need for new housing, particularly in urban areas. Over the next five years, it is predicted up to 80,000 new houses will be needed in the greater Dublin area. The scheme will also be a shot in the arm for the construction sector. Such a scheme will be greatly welcomed in providing employment and much needed housing stock.

The review of the national spatial strategy is also crucial in ensuring sustainable and balanced regional development. It is not healthy for a country to concentrate one third of its population in a small area on the east coast. Up to 50% of the national population lives in Leinster. The lack of space in Dublin and the housing policies pursued during the Celtic tiger forced many young people who were born and raised in Dublin to look to the midlands and other locations to buy homes. Such an eventuality has had serious ramifications for communities and families as people could not settle near their home villages or towns.

Conversely, I am conscious there are some in politics, in the media and other areas who seem to thrive on the notion of turning the entire west into some sort of national park. This will never be allowed to happen. We need to sustain and further develop communities in the west and other areas outside of the capital. Promoting balanced regional development will lead to better outcomes for all and a better quality of living. Doing so is in the interests of all the people.

I welcome the Bill. There are many important and welcome initiatives included in it. There is a crisis of sorts in housing and this Bill will alleviate the problems in which many find themselves. Landlords will welcome receiving their rent directly from the local authority rather than from the tenant. It is not about protecting landlords but ensuring we get quality housing. I particularly welcome the initiative regarding the housing assistance payment, HAP, and changes to the rent allowance scheme. I commend the Minister and her officials on this Bill.

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this substantial Bill.

I am galled by the Opposition jumping up and down, if not in here, on television, about a housing crisis and homelessness. One would think that for the past 15 years there was no one else in charge of the country who did not take on the responsibility they should have taken on to deal with housing, particularly social housing, when there was plenty of money flowing like honey out of every Department.

I commend the work done by the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, on providing €15 million funding for putting 500 vacant local authority housing units back into the system. Over the next two years, €68 million will go a long way in this area. I also welcome the €35 million housing investment for people with a disability, who are homeless or elderly, the €30 million spend this year to upgrade the energy efficiency of the least well-insulated local authority homes and the €10 million kick-start for unfinished housing developments. This Bill is a step in the right direction and addresses some of the crises in social housing provision.

The three important elements of this Bill are the provision of legislation based on the new HAP, the introduction of a new tenancy purchase scheme for local authority tenants and the reform of the process of determination of local authority tenants. The current rent supplement system in place has not worked to the advantage of its recipients. Some of the properties people on rent allowance have been asked to live in are appalling, undesirable and not fit for renting. There was no way of properly vetting these properties with no inspections. I believe HAP, where the local authority will pay landlords directly, will secure appropriate accommodation in the private rented sector. Under HAP, unemployed people will be able to take up employment and not be penalised by losing rent supplement. That is important for those trying to get back into the workplace as it will help them when it is not possible to pay rent from their own pocket when starting back in work. Will the Minister flesh out how this payment will work in more detail?

I have waited for the tenant purchase scheme for a long time and I am delighted it will be re-introduced. There are many local authority tenants who would love to buy their local authority property and, hopefully, this scheme will open up the opportunity for them. One area the Bill does not address is flat complexes, however. It refers to social housing and apartments but not flat complexes. Does the term "apartment" cover flat complexes? In the area I represent there are many flat complexes such as Dolphin House, Braithwaite Street, School Street and Oliver Bond Street. When I visit these complexes, I am always taken aback by the shining letter boxes on the doors and the lovely smell of washing on the balcony rails. There are often three generations of families living in these complexes but they have never had the opportunity to buy their flats. This is a flaw we need to examine.

In 1976, my father bought our local authority house for £3,500. I know people who live in Tyrone Place, Islandbridge Court, Braithwaite Street and Dolphin House who are still paying exorbitant rents to the local authority. Many of these tenants have paid over €200,000 in rent over 50 years. It is an awful indictment to think that these tenants could have bought their own homes with what they have spent on local authority rents over the years. I am constantly asking Dublin City Council as to why people in flat complexes cannot be allowed buy their own property. I get the same old story all the time, mainly that everyone will not be able to afford to do so and there would be difficulties with management fees. All of these issues can be easily solved. Will the Minister of State make an effort in resolving this issue with the city councils? I know a lady who has lived in the social housing complex in Ash Grove in Dublin’s inner city for the past 30 years.

Houses in the same complex have been bought - there are six houses in it. She lives in what is known as a maisonette where she reared her family, who all are working and contributing to society. She will not move, she said, because that is where she came from and that is where her roots are. After so many years, she is still paying rent to the local authority. She could have bought the place out three or four times, but she did not want to because she stayed there, her family are there and her children are around her. Such cases need to be looked at.

In the 1970s, and probably before that, we built large estates. We built Ballymun, St. Michael's and other estates, but the problem with many of them was there was not any facilities around them. I remember going out to Ballymun when I was very young looking at the flat complex being built and I was appalled to think there was not even a shop at the time. Of course, Ballymun is gone now, and so is St. Michael's Estate. Commentators blame those who lived in those complexes for what happened to them. I do not. I blame the local authority. The local authority failed its tenants in St. Michael's Estate and Ballymun to keep a normal kind of a society. When St. Michael's Estate was opened 49 years ago, there was a caretaker in each block. The balconies and staircases were washed down every day. There were proper facilities, such as gardening facilities, put in. There were caretakers cutting the grass etc. That was all abandoned and tenants were left to struggle following the 1980s, when many of the leaders moved out of the communities because they got a grant. Tenants were left to struggle to live in appalling conditions.

In the past couple of weeks, I have been toddling through the inner city, going into Braithwaite Street and School Street, and Oliver Bond. It would do us all good to go and walk up and down the stairs in those complexes today and see the appalling state that tenants are living in, with no proper facilities and playgrounds one would have serious problems bringing a child to. If not for the tenants cleaning their own balconies and painting their own walls, they would not be able to live in half of these places. These are appalling places to live in.

I am devastated at this stage that the city council has not got its act together to be able to give tenants a proper place to live. It is no wonder most of the tenants living in them are in rent arrears. If the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, or I were living in the conditions half of them are living in, we would not pay any rent. That is a terrible indictment on the local authorities to allow tenants to continue living in these complexes.

It is probably near the end of my time.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Catherine Byrne.

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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I will finish on this last important point - I should have watched the clock - which relates to anti-social behaviour.

I have spent the past couple of months dealing with anti-social behaviour in my area, with those who have properties such as shops dealing with the scourge of youths rampaging through them, or walking in and taking items off shelves. I had a meeting last week with the local Garda inspector and businesses in the area the owners of which are deciding that if this does not stop they are moving out. These youths are causing havoc in communities. It is certain individuals whom I know well. All of them come from social housing. I am not condemning their parents, but the problem is that if a lad comes in, for instance, to Inchicore, and causes havoc, but lives somewhere else outside of Inchicore, there is nothing the city council can do to make that family accountable for their son. He is from outside the district. These anti-social behaviour rules that are coming in need to address this. If there are young people coming into an area whose family is living in social housing, it should be addressed no matter where they are from. I am not saying every child who is from a social housing background causes havoc, but I guarantee I could bring the Minister of State into Inchicore this evening and pick out five youths I know, all of whom are causing mayhem, who are living in social housing outside the area. I want this Bill to state clearly that, if a child is causing a problem and his or her parent is under a local tenancy agreement, something can be done if they live ten miles away because it is not happening.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy.

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am sorry for labouring the point and I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for allowing me the extra few minutes.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to share time with Deputy Troy.

I endorse much of what Deputy Catherine Byrne stated in finishing. It is not only in Inchicore where that problem arises. We experience it as well, where persons from outside an area decide that an area of social housing, a social housing estate or a local authority estate will be their area of operation. They have no difficulty in coming in there and causing holy hell and havoc, and giving that area a bad name while slinking back like animals to their own area where they will not do any of that, and there is no way for local residents' associations or the local authority to take any action, even though we might know who these persons are. Some consideration should be given that anybody in a social housing contract and his or her family have a responsibility to their entire community, not only to the specific area from where they come.

I welcome the detail that the Minister of State has put into this Bill in relation to tenancy warnings and tenancy issues. It struck me in past years as I got more involved with some of the voluntary housing associations, such as Clúid and Respond, that they have set rules which they implement in relation to behaviour if one lives in a voluntary housing estate run by them. If, however, one lives in the estate next door which was run by a town council and now by a local authority, one is not subject to those rules and there is much leniency given on consistent breaches of the tenancy agreement, in particular, anti-social behaviour. It is incredibly frustrating for residents who might even live in the same estate, except that there might be different batches of houses, to see the different ways of doing that. I welcome this Bill, but there is no sense in us passing it unless the local authorities implement it. There seems to be a situation in some local authorities around the country where we have all these rules but they are not implemented for whatever reason. There seems to be a fear to engage with troublemakers in large estates. There seems to a practice of keeping it on the long finger and it might go away if one does not do anything about it, and that does not happen.

What Deputy Catherine Byrne stated is also true. Local authorities need to reassess their relationship with local authority tenants, not on the current basis in many cases that the local authority is doing somebody a favour by giving him or her a house, but on the basis of respect that this tenant is paying rent and is entitled to a service. That means that the maintenance budget is not the first budget to be cut when there are cuts to be made in the local authority - it is always the local authority estates maintenance budget that gets cut - that these rules are implemented, and that those who cause trouble and breach tenancy agreements are taken out of the estate. One must make examples of such persons. If one does not, an area will go from bad to worse. The majority of residents in any local authority estate who are there to get on with living, to rear their families and to make a contribution to their community, then will be able to do that without being intimidated. They will be encouraged in that because they will feel that their efforts and their commitment to their estate are being rewarded by the back-up of the local authority.

I welcome the tenant purchase scheme. It has been successful and there is a good track record. However, I have some difficult with it. We have come to a situation over the past number of years where the original tenant purchase scheme has moved on and where there are landlords buying, and in many cases bulk-buying, former local authority houses in estates, and then the old rent supplement payment is paid out and tenants are moved in who are not suitable to the estate or who do not pass any social housing criteria, and therein lies many problems. There needs to be restrictions on this new tenant purchase scheme to prevent that from happening in future. I would support any scheme where somebody, who is paying rent and has a good record in an area, is allowed to make the ultimate investment. If, however, that person decides to sell on, there needs to be a restriction on to whom he or she can sell. I do not know how one gets around this constitutionally. It cannot be sold on as an investment property.

It needs to be sold on to somebody who is going to make a commitment to live in the area. In many older local authority estates, the anti-social difficulties are coming from tenants who are in and out of houses that fall under the rent purchase scheme. This flaw in the tenant purchase scheme was probably not envisaged in 1987, but we know about it now. I would like to think the Minister of State might take some action in this regard.

I note that Deputy Kyne welcomed the proposed new mortgage scheme for first-time house buyers. Frankly, the announcement of this scheme, which will not be ready until the Finance Bill is passed six months from now, is typical of the kind of thing this Government does during election campaigns. It is cynical and flawed for the Government to take such an approach to trying to tell the people it is doing something about this problem. That it was done ten days before polling day shows it is nothing more than an election stunt. It is not going to do anything to ease the problems of people on social housing lists who are concerned about getting accommodation. It will do nothing for the supply of housing, which is the biggest issue at the moment. The demand that exists is generally being supported by mortgage approvals, but the supply of family houses, in particular, is inadequate. Many people who live in start-up houses have had families and need to move up to the next stage. That particular supply area is not there. The Minister of State needs to focus her efforts on those who are amassing land banks. They need to be taxed. They should be told to move those land banks on to facilitate the development of family-friendly properties. All the experience of the last ten years should be taken into account when that is being done. We need to make sure facilities are put in place when such properties are being developed.

I welcome the Minister of State's announcement last week that a scheme will be put in place to refurbish the local authority housing stock. I encourage the Minister for Finance to give the Minister of State more money for the scheme because many more properties could be refurbished. This ready-made solution to some of our housing problems could provide employment to many of the 80,000 people on the live register who have construction skills. If this scheme is rolled out in an imaginative manner, it might give some people a skill. If tenants in local authority estates where the existing housing stock needs to be improved are allowed to get involved in refurbishing houses in their own communities, they might be able to get skills in areas like carpentry and enjoy a stake in the development of their communities. Eventually, they might be able to use their new skills to assist their communities. Perhaps the Minister of State could sit down with SOLAS officials to consider an apprenticeship scheme that would allow the tenants of local authority housing estates to get involved in refurbishing those estates. That is the best buy-in we could get. These people would get skills and there would be community buy-in. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could examine that.

I am willing to give the new housing assistance payment, which will come from the housing authority, a chance. The market has proved that the rent supplement caps are a hindrance. They are certainly not effective in Dublin. Many landlords are abusing the rent supplement caps by using them to deny tenants their tenancy rights. It is wrong that they are using these caps to move tenants on. I hope there will be safeguards in the new housing assistance payment to ensure tenants are respected. It should not be possible for a rogue landlord to use changes in the housing assistance payment to move a tenant on, for example by deliberately increasing the rent to a level above the payment threshold.

I welcome the provision that will allow deductions to be made from social welfare payments in cases of rent arrears. I do not have an exact figure for the amount of outstanding arrears in local authorities. Perhaps the Minister of State has that figure. As I said earlier, local authorities need to respect their tenants. It is also important for tenants to respect the ability of local authorities to provide services on the basis of the rent that is paid. Months or years of arrears cannot be allowed to build up on properties without some sort of early engagement on why there is an arrears problem, why there is a difficulty in paying and whether a new payment plan can be put in place before the arrears get too big.

I welcome many of the provisions of this legislation, particularly those relating to tenancy agreements. There is no sense in talking about this today if such agreements are not implemented on the ground. Organisations like Clúid and Respond deal with tenancy issues and anti-social behaviour issues in many of their estates in a very proactive manner. I suggest that local authorities should follow that model. It is worth putting that investment into staff. Perhaps some local authority staff can be moved into this area. Anti-social behaviour should be stamped out as soon as it breaks out in a local authority area. I believe that 99% of the people who live in these estates are decent. We should give them a chance to have pride in their communities. We owe it to tenants to take that kind of proactive approach.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. When this House debated the housing crisis a number of weeks ago, we highlighted some of the major issues that public representatives are trying to address and solve. Much of what is in this Bill is very positive, but some of it will not solve the issues in question. There are over 90,000 people on the housing list. The high cost of rent is preventing local authorities from taking on houses under the rental accommodation scheme. Landlords are simply refusing to engage with local authorities on that scheme because they can get more money on the commercial market. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive has pointed out that homelessness has increased by 200% over the last 12 months. We are facing an unprecedented crisis. We need to address it quickly. There seems to have been a sort of drift within the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in terms of how it intends to address this issue.

As I have said, I welcome some elements of this Bill such as the tenancy warning issue and the revised procedure to recover possession. A tenant who engages in anti-social behaviour, refuses to pay the rent or causes undue hardship to his or her neighbours and the people in the community deserves to be penalised. While it is right for such a person to get an initial warning and a second chance, if he or she continues on the same track he or she ultimately deserves to have his or her house repossessed. This Bill also seeks to enhance the administrative functions associated with the rental accommodation scheme and the new housing assistance payment system. I hope that will ensure there is greater efficiency within the system. We are all in favour of greater efficiencies.

I have an issue with mandatory reductions at source. It is another example of a payment being taken away from local post offices. Many tenants in local authority houses pay their rent through the post office after they have collected their weekly old age pensions or social welfare payments. This service is moving away at a time when the State should be supporting the critical service that the post office provides in our communities. I accept that if people have built up significant arrears and are not prepared to pay their rent on a weekly basis, it definitely needs to be deducted at source. Given that most people are law-abiding citizens who pay their dues on a weekly basis, I do not know whether there is a need for this provision.

I welcome the tenant purchase scheme. I think it is very positive. It was suspended for the last 12 months or more. Many people would like to buy out their own houses when they are in a position to do so. If they have lived in the house for many years, it is likely that they have invested in it to renovate and upgrade it and would now like to own it. It is only right and proper that a new scheme has come into place. However, I remain worried that it might discriminate against people whose only income is social welfare. The Minister of State is aware that I have previously highlighted my concerns with regard to people who have been living in these houses for a long period of time and built up a track record of paying their rent. In some instances, their mortgage repayments could be similar to the differential rent. I suggest that discretion should be exercised in such cases.

In a case where a disabled person receives a disability payment and his or her carer receives a carer's allowance, there might be an income of €450 or €460 per week, which is similar to the income of a person on the minimum wage. However while a person on the minimum wage might be able to take out a loan and buy his or her house, a person on social welfare cannot. It is discriminatory against people on social welfare and when I spoke recently I asked the Minister of State to explore the point. When the rent and mortgage payments are at the same level, tenant purchase should be accommodated.

Does the legislation deal with the serious issue of the anomaly regarding separated couples? When one member of a couple moves out of the family home, his or her name may remain on the title deed because a separation agreement to legally remove it from the title deed is unaffordable. Although such a person might not be able to provide a home for himself or herself, he or she is unable to access social housing because his or her name remains on the title deed. I could cite cases from my constituency, as many other colleagues could, in which the woman had no choice but to get out of her house due to domestic abuse and lives in a refuge because she cannot get onto the local authority housing list. In one case, the husband suffered from profound psychological problems and the wife, having stayed with him for many years trying to help him, could no longer stay, moved out of the family home and is unable to get onto the housing list or get any help or support such as rent allowance. This must be addressed.

The major issue is the absence of proper and meaningful investment in the provision of local authority houses. The investment level has collapsed in recent years and nothing has been done to address it. Hopefully, the tenant purchase scheme will leverage money and enable local authorities to reinvest it in upgrading existing stock or building new stock. It is not there, and it must be addressed radically. We should support the Part 5 concept and I hope development happens. I believe in the Part 5 concept because it is socially inclusive and does not segregate people without the means to provide homes for themselves into one particular area or housing estate. Housing should be mixed, as it is far better from a social perspective and I would like it to be progressed.

I would appreciate if the Minister of State would re-examine the issue of separated families. We should re-examine the discriminatory criteria of the new tenant purchase schemes. We should consider enabling voluntary housing bodies and giving them the necessary legislative framework to raise capital to build new units to provide for the thousands of people on housing lists across all constituencies who have no opportunity to get housing any time in the near future. Has the Minister any plans to deal with private landlords who do not wish to engage with local authorities or local authorities which are not engaging with landlords regarding long-term leases? In my constituency one could count the properties with long-term leases on the fingers of two hands. What plans does the Minister of State have to deal with the issue? There is nothing in the Bill that will deal with it.

Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the progress in housing legislation. This is a step along the way, and we have a long way to go to rectify the problems that developed under the previous Fianna Fáil Administration. I am delighted Deputy Troy said the only construction that will happen under his watch will be the tent at the Galway Races where his developer friends will be. I am sure he would welcome such a scenario again. The Minister of State knows my views on Part 5.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Fine Gael might have it in Punchestown. Is the Punchestown tent still open?

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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It has not been closed down. As far as we know it is still open.

Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I have always said that while Part 5 was an instrument to aid development and build houses, it never built communities and I have always argued against it. Deputy Troy has suddenly developed a social bent regarding building social housing. He never mentioned it in the past three years when no houses were delivered to local authorities under the Part 5 scheme. It is one of the reasons the Government should take more control of house building for people on the housing lists. Part 5 has not delivered on that, particularly in the past five years. I will welcome any changes to that piece of legislation, which was brought in a number of years ago.

In Kildare this morning, 6,047 people are on the housing list. While the Bill will help in some regards, I am concerned about how the HAP will replace the rent supplement scheme. In Kildare very few properties are being made available for rent supplement to the local authorities. Will the HAP, which is replacing it, improve this? It is probably a matter for the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton. We have a serious issue regarding rents. Competition is coming from the private sector, which is strong in Kildare, not only in my constituency but in Kildare South. In view of the strong jobs growth, particularly in my area, there is strong competition for accommodation and therefore people on waiting lists are unable to acquire properties. We tried to dictate previously. Unless we bring the allowances into line with the open market, more tenants on waiting lists will be unable to acquire properties.

I would like a quicker turnaround of vacant local authority properties, and while I welcome the funding the Minister of State allocated, we need to speed it up. There are boarded-up houses in local authority estates and it is vitally important we make those available to tenants as quickly as possible. Can we strengthen the ability of the offspring of long-term local authority tenants to take over their parents' properties? I know of a number of cases in which a tenant passed away and the local authority cannot make a decision to allow the son or daughter to live in the house afterwards.

Perhaps we could do some legal work in that respect.

The Minister of State has heard me argue before that this is really an issue of house building and we need more houses to be built. The Minister for Finance is looking to provide some sort of assurance for first-time buyers for new houses but as of this morning, there are only 34 new houses available on www.daft.iefor the entirety of County Kildare. If many people secure loans through banks with the aid we provide through assurance, there would be much money chasing too few goods. We must consider how we can incentivise developers to start building. It may be radical but I have an idea which relates to a term in rugby, which the Minister of State would know as she comes from Limerick. It is "use it or lose it", and I contend that if land is zoned but not used, for example, if no planning permission is sought or a development is not built, in a five-year period, the land should be rezoned to previous use, which may have been agricultural purposes. Something radical like that may shift developers into building more houses.

I understand from a building perspective that the cost of building a house when compared to the market price leaves a differential. We may need to consider some tax elements to incentivise builders to produce houses. It costs approximately €100 per square foot to build a house, with a 1,500 sq. ft semi-detached house costing €150,000. On top of that are levies charged by local authorities, taxes and site development costs. The final build cost would be between €220,000 and €250,000 but new houses for sale are currently not achieving that price. Somebody must make up the difference, so we must incentivise builders to develop housing which we need. The Economic and Social Research Institute has indicated we need 25,000 to 30,000 houses per annum but only 12,000 were built last year, meaning there is a deficit in the area, particularly on the eastern side of the country. Should we stimulate building rather than facilitating people in accessing finance, which will come later? The cost of money is also an issue, and only yesterday I discovered there is a difference of 1.4% in the cost of borrowing money here as opposed to borrowing money in Germany. We have the same EU rate across the board, with a basic ECB rate of 0.25%. We must address this difference in the cost of money when people are buying properties.

I have been completely opposed to the Part V provisions from day one, as they would build houses rather than communities. It was a ridiculous part of the legislation, which amounted to a cop-out by the previous Administration. It took the house building role of local authorities away from them and put it into the private sector. We can now see the results with, for example, 6,047 people in Kildare on the housing list as a direct result of Part V provisions. Nothing has been delivered to local authorities in the past three years and I cannot see how anything will be delivered in the next two years under these provisions. The initial concept was watered down, and I have always believed that a contribution should be made to a local authority when somebody is seeking land to be zoned. I have always believed in land being handed over so it could be used by local authorities for amenities, schools, roads, libraries and other elements for developing communities.

I welcome the legislation, which is a step forward; we are going in the right direction but we must consider areas in which the housing assistance payment may not work out because of the rent differential between what the Department of Social Protection is willing to pay and what the market demands. I welcome the legislation and I approve of the tenant purchase scheme. Local authorities need access to finance so they can provide loans to tenants. I welcome this Bill and I wish the best to the Minister of State.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the legislation and particularly the main provisions, some of which were outlined by Deputy Lawlor. Tenant purchase is a mechanism that would allow tenants of local authorities to buy their properties and own them independently but the process was suspended some time ago. This legislation allows for a new tenant purchase scheme, which is to be welcomed. There are also changes which enable local authorities to act on persistent matters of anti-social behaviour in local authority housing, which would be welcomed by everybody and particularly the law-abiding local authority or social housing tenants.

I will touch on a couple of issues as Kilkenny is no different from most parts of the world. In the past few years we have seen a major increase in the number of people on the housing list. As Deputy Lawlor argued, as a result of the Part V arrangement entered into by the former Minister, Noel Dempsey, a number of years ago, local authorities essentially privatised the development of social housing around the country. The process has not been successful. Deputy Troy spoke about his support for the Part V provisions but in my time in the other House, his associate, former Senator Donie Cassidy, spoke about tremendous value five or six years ago in buying properties worth approximately €200,000 at the time in Castlepollard, County Westmeath. I would like to know what they are now worth, as he advised all the Members of the other House at the time to invest in property in Castlepollard. That has not worked out.

There are laws relating to derelict sites. In Kilkenny I was involved with a number of towns and villages in my time as a member of the local authority, and we sought to ensure that the county council could take over some derelict sites and have them redeveloped for social housing. In this city and throughout the country there is a proliferation of derelict sites and the law allows for compulsory purchase if the owner of the site in question does not improve it. It is a somewhat complicated process but it could provide access for local authorities to a number of brownfield sites, some of which are in town or city centre locations, for social housing development. I welcome yesterday's announcement by the Government in that the stimulus package will have a provision for funding for up to 800 additional units across the country. It is but a drop in the ocean but it is also a step in the right direction.

I welcome that this Bill allows for direct deduction of social welfare payments where cases of arrears arise. I query the point raised by Deputy Troy that this would remove a function from post offices. This relates to a case where arrears would arise and money has not been paid through post offices or any other mechanism. It is not something that will be forgone by post offices around the country but rather it is money that would not have been paid in the first place. This legislation would allow such a direct deduction, which is a positive step.

I echo Deputy Lawlor's sentiments on the need for a quicker turnover of vacant local authority accommodation across the country.

There has been some action in that regard in recent years and I urge more action.